With the elderly population disproportionately affected by complications from Covid-19, the novel coronavirus has highlighted the physical well-being of older persons. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), older people are particularly at risk of developing fatal complications from the virus. Mental health experts, however, have warned that focus […]

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Nurses eBulletin

Category: Health and Medical

Those are familiar voice commands as patients call on Alexa the messenger,or is she?The answer can be found at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles.

One thing for sure is that this technological innovation has transformed hospital wards into ‘Super wards_or ‘Super rooms.

First installed in February 2018 as a pilot project,it now covers more than 100 rooms.and the future is promising.

Developed by Amazon,Alexa is one of the of latest technologies that seem to have a long way ahead.This voice controlled assistant works on smart speakers(Amazon Echo Dot) and operates on healthcare software or platform called Aiva.

What does it do?? From distructing patients off pain,anxiety, loneliness, provides entertainments, connecting patients with hospital staff, to connecting patients with the outside world this tech is worth banking on.

Alexa is a voice command assistant,just like ‘Siri’,on IPhone. Patients can call a nurse,switch on devices like TV,changing TV channels,access weather,playing music and more….by voice command.

The nurse call is delivered to respective nurse’s mobile device, in text message form and the sender gets feedback that the message is delivered.

‘So far nurses are also responding positively to the technology’says Peachy Hain,Executive Director of medical and surgical services at the hospital. Nurses can now concentrate on nursing the patients without having to switch on and changing TV channels.

South Africa:Vosloorus,Gauteng province.Eight babies lost their lives at Thelle Mogoerane hospital,last month in what is believed to be klebsiella infection.

The unit the babies were treated in was closed five months earlier following infection with klebsiella that claimed six lives.

Nurses believe the unit was not thoroughly cleaned and remained unhygienic following previous outbreak,while the provincial health department dismissed klebsiella as the cause of deaths,claiming that only one child out of eight tested positive of klebsiella.

Hhokomela will distributes mosquito nets as a measure to combat malaria in Limpopo province.The nets were given by music legend and malaria ambassador Yvonne Chakachaka of Africa Foundation.

health e news

Mosquitos on diet drug lost appetite for human blood

Aedes aegypti

Following early stage of research in trying to combat mosquito borne diseases like malaria,yellow fever and zika,a team of researchers at Rockefeller University in New York may have find the way to get rid of those blood thirsty insects

The team led by Ms Duvall conducted the research by feeding human diet drug containing saline to Aedes Aegypti species of female mosquitos,and were impressed by the outcomes.The results showed that their appetite for human blood plummeted following administration of drug.

“Even though the effects are not permanent and won’t eradicate mosquitos,the idea is a good one as it comes naturally to them”Explained Ms Duvall

Ireland:One may wonder what came to this 33 year old male’s mind, before he consulted the doctor for back pain.On the 18th January this year,the moment he consulted for back pain, doctors noticed that,he had cellulitis on his right arm,and to everyone’s shock,his explanation was,’he had been intravenously injecting himself with his own semen monthly to ease the back pain.He told doctors that he had been injecting himself with a hypodermic needle and syringe for 18 months to treat back pain that developed following lifting heavy objects.

He was then hospitalised and started on antibiotics.Though his back pain subsided while being hospitalised, he ended up discharging himself prior undergoing incision and drainage of the arm.